| Savosavo | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Solomon Islands |
| Region | Savo Island, north of Guadalcanal, Central Solomons. |
Native speakers | (2,400 cited 1999)[1] |
Central Solomons
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | svs |
| Glottolog | savo1255 |
| ELP | Savosavo |
 Savosavo is classified as Definitely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger | |
Savosavo is an endangered language spoken on Savo, a small volcanic island north of Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. Savosavo is one of the Central Solomon languages, which are Papuan languages, unlike most of the languages in the vicinity, which are members of the Oceanic branch of the Austronesian language family. There are close to 3,000 speakers of Savosavo, and it is the easternmost Papuan language in the Pacific. Savosavo is the main language of nine of the twelve districts in the Solomon Islands.[clarification needed] The closest Papuan language to Savosavo is the Central Solomon Lavukaleve, spoken in the Russell Islands to the west. Other neighbor languages are Bughotu, Ghari, and Lengo, Bughotu is to the north, while Ghari and Lengo are to the south, and are spoken on Guadalcanal.[2]
- ^ Savosavo at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ "Individual Research Activities". Oceanic Linguistics. 1 (1): 12–28. 1962. doi:10.2307/3622765. JSTOR 3622765.